Striking and chime clock



I A. B. CAMPBELL.

STRIKING AND CH IME CLOCK Sept. 15, 1936.

I Filed Dec. 7, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

INVENTOR. 5. Cam pbell I l' l A TTORNEY.

Sept 15, 1936;

A; B. CAMPBELL STHIKING AND CHIME CLOCK Filed Dec. 7, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.3

INVENTOR. B. Camybell ATTORNEY).

Sept. 15, 1936. A. B. CAMPBELL STRIKING- AND CHIME CLOCK 4 Sheets Sheet 3 Filed Dec. '7, 1932 INVENTOR. H rthu'f B. Camps IOI/ Patented Sept. 15, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STRIKING AND 'CI-IIME CLOCK Arthur B. Campbell, Thomaston, Conm, assignor 1 to Seth Thomas Clock Company, Thomaston,

Conn, a corporation of Connecticut Application December 7, 1932, Serial No. 646,131

4 Claims. (01. 58-13) My invention relates to striking and chime Gear 1 is frictionally mounted on shaft 9 which clocks and has for its object the production of is journalled in plates I and 2 and which shaft 9 such a clock in which the rate of striking either serves as the arbor for a spring (not shown) coiled the hour striking or chime striking can be defiin spring barrel I which spring is thus wound 6 nitely regulated in an extremely simple, inexpenthrough the gear train by the electric motor and sive and effective manner and at the same time stores up the power to operate the quarter-hourly eliminate the noises that were given out by these chime mechanism. Integral with spring barrel I3 devices which were used previous to my invention. is the gear I I which engages the teeth of gear I2 A further object of my invention is the producmounted on shaft I3. Shaft I3 carries the gear tion of mechanism associated with the gathering I4 meshing with pinion I5. Said pinion I5 is cam, the rack and the snail of such clocks to elimmounted on shaft l6 journalled between plates I inate the noisy operation previously usual in such and 2. The shaft I6 carries the gear H which clocks. I gear I'I has the stop pin I 8 mounted on its rim, as

A further object is the production of a deshown. The gear Il engages pinion I9 mounted mountable bushing which has for its object the on shaft which shaft 20 is journalled between direct connection of the current leads with the and in plates I and 2. The shaft 20 carries the clock movement on the back plate, eliminating all gear 2I which gear has mounted on its rim the the present inside wiring and eliminating also the stop pin 22, as shown. Shaft I3 also has mounted terminal block that was formerly used on the case on its front end the chime cam 23 which has 20 itself, and still provides a detachable cord which is notches 24 cut in its periphery and which cam 2 very much desired by such clock users. carries the pin 25 as shown.

I accomplish these objects by the means shown Integral with chime cam 23 is auxiliary chime in the accompanying drawings in which: cam 26 which has a notch 21 cut in its periphery Fig. 1 is a front view of the clock movement. (see Fig. 3). Engaging said cam 23 is the lever 25 Fig. 2 is a partial front view of the clock move- 28 mounted on shaft 29 which is journalled in ment showing the quarter-hourly chime mechathe plates I and 2. Said lever 28 has a projection nism. 30 which engages the notches 24 of cam 23. Said Fig. 3 is a right side view of the Figure 2. lever 28 has a further projecting element 3| the Fig. 4 is a partial front view of the clock moveend 32 of which engages the stop pin 22 on gear 0 ment showing the hour-strike mechanism. wheel 2 I. 36

Fig. 5 is a left side view of Figure 4. Said shaft 29 carries the forked lever 33 com- Fig. 6 is a partial top view of the clock mo-veprising member 34 and member 35. The right ment showing the magnetic speed control device. angled projection 36 at the end of member 34 Fig. '7 is a front view of Figure 6. engages the stop pin 22 on gear wheel 2I. 1A Fig. 8 is a right side view of Figure '7. further right angled projection 31 at the end of -55 Fig. 9 is a partial rear view of the clock case member of said forked lever 33 engages the showing the demountable cord bushing. quatref oil cam 38 which is mounted on the center .Fig. 10 is a sectional view along a line II of shaft 5. Figure 9. At the end of shaft I3 adjacent to-rear plate 2 40 Similar numerals represent the same parts (see Fig. 3) is mounted the gear 39 which meshes 40 throughout the several views. 1 with the gear 40 which is journally mounted on In the drawings I represents the front plate and the projecting end of shaft 9 which gear 40 en- 2 the rear plate of the clock. A synchronous elecgages the gear 4| fastened on camshaft 42 which tric motor is mounted between plates I and 2 and camshaft carries the chime earns 43 and is jour- 45 is indicated by rotor shaft 3 on which shaft is nalled between rear plate 2 and auxiliary plate. 45 mounted the rotor pinion 4. The power of said Said chime cams 43 are locked together as a motor is transmitted by means of pinion 4 and unit to give the desired chime sequence and have the usual train of gears (shown in Fig. 1) to the on their periphery the teeth 45 which engage the center shaft 5 to which the minute hand (not projections 46 on the levers 41 which levers 41 shown) is attached. are independently and rotatably mounted on the 50' Said center shaft 5 is journally mounted in shaft 48 which is journalled in the plates 2 and plates I and 2. The gear 6 is mounted on shaft 5 44. Said levers 41 carry the strike rods 49 at the and engages the teeth of gear I on the right side end of each of which is adjustably attached the and also the teeth of gear 8 on the left'side usual strike hammer 50 (see Fig. 1) which strikes thereof. the usual gong rod 5| as shown. 55-

' corresponding to the twelve periods that the The auxiliary locking system comprising levers 52 and 53 mounted on the shaft 54 journalled in plates I and 2 is shown in (Figs. 1 and 3). Lever 52 has a follower point 55 which engages the notch 21 of auxiliary chime cam 26 and the lower edge of said lever 52 rests on a pin 51 carried by lever 26. The lever 53 has a projection 56 which engages the pin I8 on gear wheel IT. The gear 8 is frictionally mounted on shaft 58 which is journalled in plates I and 2, and said shaft 59 serves as the arbor for a spring (not shown) coiled in spring barrel 59 which spring is thus wound through the gear train by the electric motor and stores up the power to operate the hour strike mechanism. Formed on spring barrel 59 is the gear 69 which engages the teeth of pinion 6| mounted on shaft 62 which carries the gear 63 which meshes with pinion 94 which is mounted on shaft 65 journalled in plates I and.

2. The shaft 65 carries the gear 56 which engages pinion 6! mounted on shaft 68 which shaft is journalled in plates I and 2 and carries the gear 69 which gear has mounted on its rim the stop pin I9 as shown. The shaft has mounted on its front end infront of plate I (shown in Fig. 4) the oval cam l! which carries a pin 12. Engaging said cam II is the lever I3- journalled on the stud 14 which is fastened in plate I. Said lever I3 has the right angled projection I5 which engages the periphery of the cam II and further has a pin I6 mounted adjacent to itsright hand end as well as a projection II which extends through an aperture inthe plate I and which engages the stop pin I9 on gear wheel 69.- The projection I5 on lever -I3 rides onthe surface of .the ovalcamll so that the pin I6 will be gently lowered into engagement with the rack so as to avoid any clicking sound such as would-occur if. it were dropped suddenly against the teeth of the said rack. I

Journalled on a stud I8 which is fastened on plate I is the rack member I9 which has the proper number of teeth 89 which teeth are always so positioned that they will be engaged by the pin I2 on oval cam II when saidcam is rotated. Attached to the end of rack member I9 is the buffer spring BI as shown. Integralwithrack member 19 is the stop finger 8.2, which engages with the step of the snail 93 which has twelve such steps or segments of decreasing radii hour-strike mechanism shall function. Said snail 93 is journalled on the center shaft with the usual hour hand mechanism (not shown) of the clock and is operated as a part of the usual dial train of the clock (not shown).

Journalled on stud 94' mounted on plate Ii s Mounted on shaft 62 is the star wheel 99. comprising a plurality of teeth 9| which teeth engage the projection 92 of the arm 94 of bellcrank lever hub 93 which also has another arm 95 as shown. Said lever hub 93 being journalled on stud.

96 fastened in the plate ,2.

Said projection 92 of arm 94 extends through an aperturein plate 2 as shown. The arm 95 of lever huh 93 has a suitably formed end 91 which engages .a pin 98 mounted in lever 99 whichis attached. to the 'Mounted on shaft I93 is a metallic disk I94 which -may be made a highly current conducting metal such as copper or aluminum or of a conducting "metal which is highly magnetic such as iron or 'iron alloys.

Adjacent to said disk I94 is the permanent magnet I95 which is located on the inner side of plate 2 by means of the pin I96 and clamped in position by means of the thumb nut I 91 and curved slot I99 in plate 2 thereof. The magnet I95 is of the horse shoe type and having its opening I99 by means of which the pole pieces may be made to encompass more or less of the disk I94 by swiveling said magnet I95 about the pin I96 using the thumb nut I91 and slot I99 above described.

The above described magnetic device is utilized to control the speed of the hour strike mecha nism. A similar magnetic speed control device for the chime mechanism engages the gear wheel 2I by means of a pinion II8A mounted on the shaft I93A as shown in Figs. 6 and '7.

A demountable bushing for the cord connecting the clock to the power supply is shown in Figs. .9 and 10 in which II9 represents the back of the clock, casing and III the door. Line .2 is the edge of the door opening into which the recess II3 is cut. Said recess H3 is semicircular at its inner extremity and positions the spring clip or holder H4 which is secured to the casing by means of the nail I I5 as shown. Bush ing II6 is held by spring clip H4 but can be pressed in or out along the line I I (Fig. 9) as desired.' The lug II! on bushing II6 fits into the recess II 3 and prevents the turning of said bushing. It is evident that by means of this demountable bushing device that the clock movement can always be removed from the casing without in any way disconnecting the conducting wires from the clock movement.

In operation my clock is driven by a synchronous electric motor, the power, beingtransmitted through the indicated train of gears 'of.

proper ratio to the center shaft 5 from which the usual minute and hour hands are driven. The gear wheel 6 on the center shaft 5 meshes with gear wheel .I to wind the spring which powers the chime strike mechanism and with gear wheel 8 to wind the hour strike spring. Both gear wheels I and 8 are frictionally mounted to prevent overwinding and consequent breaking of the springs. The quatrefoil cam38 on center shaft, 5 being mounted and synchronized with the minute hand, raises and drops the projection 31 of lever 33 every quarter hour, thus putting the chime strike mechanism into operation every quarter hour. When the lever 33 nears the point of maximum rise on cam 38 the projection 32 of lever 28 is drawn from the circular path of pin 22 on gear wheel 2I and said. gear wheel 2| being under pressure from the chime strike spring in spring barrel I9. is free torotate. The raising of lever 33, however, also raises member 34 of lever 33 whose ..projecting end 36 is interposed in the circular path spasms of pin 22 on gear wheel 2| thus locking the system after the gears have made only a fraction of a turn. This fraction of a turn gives the chime cam 23 sufiicient rotation so that projection of lever 28 cannot again enter the notch 24 in cam 23 from which it was raised, forcing projection 33 to ride on the periphery of cam 23 and keeping projection 38 of lever 28 out of the circular path of pin 22 on gear wheel 2i.

When the projection 3'! of lever 33 subsequently drops off the high point of lobe cam 38 the projection of lever 33 drops from the circulat path of pin 22 on gear wheel 21 thus freeing the chime gear train. The gear 39 on shaft i3 now being in rotation drives the cam shaft 42 through gears 40 and 4| and the cams 4-3 on camshaft 42 rotate, causing the teeth 45 to actuate the levers 41 and at the same time the strike rods 43 and hammers 58. The proper amount of rotation of the cam 23 (as required by quarter-hour chime, half-hour chime, etc.) is governed by the amount of circumferential dis-- tancebetween notches 24 on cam 23, for it is evident. that when the next succeeding notch '35 is reached by the projection 33 on lever 28,

said projection 30 will enter said notch, again intcrposing projection 32 of lever 28 in the circular path of pin 22 on gear wheel 2| thus locking the system until the next lobe of the quatrefoil cam 38 is rotated to repeat the above sequence, a quarter of an hour later until the three quarter chime has been sounded.

After the three quarter hour chime has thus been sounded the cam 28 which has the single notch 21 still has the point 55 riding on the dwell or outer part of the cam 26 which holds lever 52 and 53 in the upper or raised position in which the stop 56 is withheld from the path of the pin I8 on the relatively high speed gear I! so that to release the chime strike for the first three quarters of the hour it is only necessary to lift the levers 28 and 32 the normal distance by means of each of the three equal lobes of cam 38. At the end of the third quarter chimes the chiming as above mentioned is stopped by stop 32 engaging pin 22 in the usual manner. At the same time the point 55 drops into the said notch 21 in cam 26 which brings the stop 56 into the path of the pin l8. As the minute hand completes the hourly period the fourth lobe of the cam 38 which, as is usual in all chime synchronizing devices which are already old in the art, is longer than the other three lobes, acts in the manner of the shorter lobes to remove the stop 32 from the path of the pin 22 but raises lever 28 higher than do the other three lobes causing the pin 51 to engage lever 52 and raise it sufiiciently to remove the stop 55 from the path of pin l8 through the intermediary of lever 53 to release the chimes to strike the hour. Thus, by virtue of the fact that on the hour it is necessary for the long lobe on cam 38 to release fourth quarter chime the fourth quarter chimes will only strike on the even hour, so that if for any reason the clock mechanism will be in condition to chime the hour when it should chime the half or three quarter hour, the chime will remain silent until the minute hand comes into synchronism with the chimes at which time the long lobe of cam 38 releases the chime to strike the fourth quarter chimes.

The hour strike mechanism is put into operation by the raising of the trip lever 85 by means of its slantly shaped end 86 engaging the pin 25 on chime cam 23. Said pin 25 being so disposed on chime cam 23 that said trip lever 85 will be raised immediately after the hour chime strike has functioned, as above described.

When trip lever 85 is raised as above mentioned its: associated stop lever 81 rotates in counter-clockwise direction, causing pin 89 in said lever 81 to raise lever 13 which raising of lever [3 takes projection TI out of the circular path of stop pin E3 on gear wheel 69 and temporarily frees the hour-strike gear system. The gear wheel 69 may then make a fraction of a revolution, 1. e., until pin 10 on gear wheel 63 is stopped by projection 88 of lever 81 which has been interposed in the circular path of pin 18 by the counter-clockwise movement of lever 81. The gear system is thus held locked until the end 88 of trip lever 85' drops off the pin 25 on chime cam 23 at which time projection. 88 of lever 81 is withdrawn from the pin 18 on gear wheel 69, permitting the gear system to operate the hour-strike system. The projection 11 on lever 13, however, cannot at this point drop far enough to stop the pin 18 on gear wheel 69 because with the raising of lever 13, the pin 16 on said lever 13 no longer restrains the rack member 19 which rack under the influence of the spring tension shown rotates in a counter-clockwise direction so that the pin 16 on lever [3 falls on the teeth 88 of rack member I3 when said lever 13 is permitted to thus rotate. Said lever 13 is held sufficiently raised by said teeth 80 to keep projection 11 on lever I3 out of the path of pin 10 on gear 69. Rock member 19 thus rotates in a counter-clockwise direction until its stop finger 82 comes into contact with one of the surfaces of the snail 83. It is evident that the number of teeth 80 on rack member 19 which are permitted to pass to the left of pin 16 on lever 13 isv determined by the angular position of snail 83 which snail 83 is synchronized or rotates with the hour hand of the clock. The rotation or fall of said rack member I9 in counter-clockwise direction is silenced by the bufier spring 8| acting against the center hub of chime cam 23 making its operation practically noiseless.

With the required number of teeth 80 on rack member 19 to the left of pin 16 on lever 13 and the gear train in motion, the oval cam 1| rotates in a counter-clockwise direction and pin I2 on said cam 1| engages the spaces between the teeth 80 and ratchets said rack member 19 to the right, one tooth at a time with each rotation of said cam. Said pin 16 on lever 13 is correspondingly raised and drops into the next tooth space one space at a time. This continues until pin 12 on cam 1| has gathered all the remaining teeth and the pin 16 on lever 13 drops over the left hand edge of rack member 19, which drop interposed projection 11 of lever 13 in the circular path of stop pin Hi on gear wheel 69 thus locking the gear system. The pin 76 having dropped with lever 13, serves to hold rack member 19 to the right, in position to repeat the above described cycle one hour later. It will be seen that the number of teeth 80 on rack member 19 to be gathered by pin 72 on cam II at any given hour will correspond to the number of strokes to be struck by the hour strike mechanism and that each revolution of the cam H will produce a stroke of the strike mechanism.

The teeth 9! of star wheel 90, being of such pitch that one tooth 9| is indexed for each revolution of the cam II and engaging the projection 92 of member 94 of hell cranklever 93, will,- give said lever 93 a reciprocating motion about the stud 96. Said reciprocating motion is further transmitted through bushing I and lever I 0! to the strike rod I02 causing the hammer attached thereto to strike the gong rod as previously described.

The adjustable magnetic speed control or brake, enables the clock user to regulate the speed of both the chime strikes and hour strikes. The manual adjustment is effected by loosening the thumb-nut I0'I (Figs. 6, '7 and 8) and shifting said thumb-nut I0! to the right or left in the curved slot I08. Said shift or thumb-nut III'I causes the magnet I05 to swivel about the pin I 06 and to intercept more or less of the disk I04, maximum braking action being secured when all the lines of force of said magnet I05 act upon said disk I04.

It will be understood, of course, that while I have here shown one form of my device I do not wish to limit it to the exact construction shown but desire to have it taken in a sense illustrative of any or all the forms that come fairly within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a clock, a striking mechanism comprising a rack, rotating parts and a snail and means associated with said rack restraining it from freely dropping to strike said snaiL'said means comprising a resilient member mounted on said rack in frictional engagement with one of said rotating parts.

2. In a-clock, a striking mechanism comprising a rack, a snail and a resilient member mounted on said rack and means on said frame contacted by said resilient member thereby restraining it from freely dropping to strike said snail,

3. In an electric clock, a casing having an aperture, a, door closing said aperture, an electric motor and a time indicating means actuated thereby mounted in said casing, conducting wires connected to, said motor extending beyond said casing, means removably connecting said conducting wires with said casing comprising a notch cut into the edge of said aperture and a member having an aperture through which said conducting wires pass removably mounted in said notch, said member having means thereon whereby said member is secured in said notch when the door is closed.

4. In an electric clock, a'casing with an aperture, a door mounted to close said aperture, said aperture having a notch in the wall thereof and a member having an aperture with means thereon whereby said member registers with said notch and is removably mounted therein and locked therein when said door closes said aperture.

ARTHUR B. CAMPBELL. 

